Celebrity Biographies
Anthony Powell
He dressed Indiana Jones and Cruella de Vil. Three-time Oscar winner Anthony Powell passed away on April 16, 2021 at the age of 85. “Legendary British costume designer Anthony Powell passed away last weekend. He will be remembered in a small private gathering due to COVID restrictions and is survived by two nieces,” the Costume Designers Guild posted on social media.
Born in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester, on June 2, 1935, Anthony Powell grew up in Yorkshire and Dublin, where he began his artistic journey as a teenager, touring with his handmade puppets. After a stint in the army, he graduated from London’s Central School of Art and Design, later apprenticing as an assistant designer with renowned theater tailors. He got his start on the stage, winning a Tony Award for the stage performance of “The School for Scandal,” a hit production starring John Gielgud .
Filmmaker Irving Lerner first brought him to Hollywood when he commissioned the costumes for The Royal Hunt for the Sun , where Anthony Powell excelled in dressing Spanish conquistadors and Native Americans. He won three Oscars for best costumes, for Trips with My Aunt (1972), Death on the Nile (1978) and Tess (1979). He also received nominations for Steven Spielberg ‘s Hook and 102 Dalmatians , where he costumed Glenn Close as the iconic Disney villain Cruella de Vil. He worked with major directors of the 1970s and 1980s, including Roman Polanski , George Cukorand William Friedkin .
Steven Spielberg had also recruited him for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom , and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade , where Anthony Powell further honed Harrison Ford ‘s iconic outfit as the hat-and-whip adventurer. He retired after Miss Potter, where he Edwardian-dressed Renée Zellweger as the children’s writer Beatrix Potter .
Her cousin, Sandy Powell , also works as a costume designer, on titles like Mary Poppins Returns .A